The Kansas City Symphony garnered tremendous critical acclaim for their first project on Reference Recordings, incidental music for The Tempest by Sullivan and Sibelius (Shakespeare's Tempest, RR-115). Their second release on RR, Britten's Orchestra, received a GRAMMY for Best Surround Sound for both the engineer and producer, as well as rave reviews everywhere! (Britten's Orchestra, RR-120 is now unfortunately out of print).

We are thrilled to work again with Conductor Michael Stern, the son of famed violinist Isaac Stern. Now in his eighth season as music director, the Kansas City Symphony has been much praised for its remarkable artistic growth and development since his tenure began. He is also the founder of the Iris Chamber Orchestra in Memphis, Tennessee, and in addition to RR, has recorded for Sony, Hyperion, Denon, Arabesque and Naxos.

Producer David Frost has won Grammy awards in 2005,2009 and 2011 for Classical Producer of the Year.
He has produced a large roster of stars and Grammy-winning titles. We are most honored to work with him again on this project.

NOTE: This album will be released, at a later date, in the following formats: 200-gram half-speed mastered LP;
HRx high-resolution DVD Data Disc containing 176.4 kHz/24 bit WAV files and surround-sound hybrid SACD. Downloads will not be available.

REVIEWS:

"Do not, I mean this absolutely, let this one pass you by. It is a treat at all levels, and just you wait till you hear the string section?s technical finesse and execution throughout." --Harry Pearson, HPSoundings

"These [are] splendid American performances of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, with Michael Stern adopting an utterly persuasive approach to this music, stressing (if anything) its internationalism. What makes the disc particularly cherishable is the typically luxurious 24-bit sound quality afforded by Prof Johnson."

?Barry Forshaw, Classical CD Choice

Enigma Variations: "This new recording engineered by Keith Johnson is typical of the Professor's natural sound, accorded transparency and depth. He records the Kansas City Symphony beautifully ?Elgar's very particular orchestration and dynamic markings have not been captured better on record. The Wasps, especially the fantastic overture, is underrated Vaughan Williams. That this new Reference CD has such a wonderful 'filler' is a very musical bonus...The pairing of these two works on one CD in the most modern sound is cause for celebration. Recommended." ?Anthony Kershaw, Audiophilia.com - complete review